Mad, Mad Response to One Tortured Playlist

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The Torture Playlist I pulled together—based on a leaked interrogation log, news reports, and the accounts of detainees and soldiers who’ve been torturers—has gotten, well, a lot of play. Of the feedback, perhaps most disturbing of all comes from DEICIDE’s Steve Asheim. The death metal band’s drummer says he’s stoked that their song F*** Your God has been used to torture detainees. “It’s cool. If we’re up to military standards of audio abuse, it makes me feel like DEICIDE’s doing our part for the troops.” Asheim’s father, uncle and grandfather served in the Army, so he said, “since I was so busy with the band thing, I’m glad I was eventually able to contribute somehow.”

He’s not the first artist to say they’re glad their music has helped “fight the terrorists.” Metallica’s James Hetfield told NPR’s Terry Gross in a 2004 interview, “For me, the lyrics are a form of expression, a freedom to express my insanity. If the Iraqis aren’t used to freedom, then I’m glad to be part of their exposure.” Hetfield said his music has been bothering parents for years, so why not the terrorists. “If I listened to a death metal band for 12 hours in a row, I’d go insane, too. I’d tell you anything you wanted to know.” (Metallica’s Enter Sandman is on the Playlist.)

Others have made statements opposing the use of their music to torture detainees. Clive Stafford Smith, a British lawyer representing several Guantanamo detainees, is spearheading an effort to sue the military based on copyright infringement. Rage Against the Machine (also on the list) even wrote to the State Department and the Armed Forces asking them to stop.

But so far, no comment from Barney or the Meow Mix guys.

—Justine Sharrock

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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